QĀḌĪ AL-NUʿMĀN. Abū Ḥanīfah al-Nuʿmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Manṣūr ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥayyūn al-Tamīmī (d. AH 363/974 CE), generally called al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, was the most eminent exponent of Fāṭimid jurisprudence and an official historian of the Fāṭimids. His works, all written in Arabic, cover various other subjects, including Qurʾanic exegesis (taʾwīl) and religious etiquette. He entered the service of the first Fāṭimid caliph, al-Mahdī (r. 909–934), in about 924 in Ifrīqiyah (present-day Tunisia and eastern Algeria) and served the first four caliphs of the Fāṭimid dynasty in various capacities for almost fifty years until his death.

On the eve of the advent of the Fāṭimids, Ism...